Aside from being one of the most unique people to ever pass through the TUF house, Cody McKenzie might be the least intimidating-looking guy to *ever* fight in the UFC, Fred Ettish excluded (all due respect to both men). With his mangy appearance and general “No fucks to give” attitude, McKenzie was a fighter who made his name as one of the most prolific one-trick ponies in the game, scoring 11 out of his 14 career wins by way of his patented McKenzietine choke.

Unfortunately, McKenzie was on borrowed time from the very moment he made the transition to the big leagues, and today brings word that he has been released by the UFC following his disastrous performance against Sam Stout at UFC on FOX 9. The announcement was made by none other than McKenzie himself via Twitter, and immediately followed up by a request to fight Shinya Aoki. Additionally, McKenzie informed us that he already has two fights lined up — one at 180 lbs and one at 170 — and would like to fight for the WSOF in the near future. Personally, I’m all for the idea of seeing McKenzie vs. Palhares with the stipulation that both men can attempt their signature submissions and nothing else for the entirety of the contest. Any takers?

Despite being shut down in the TUF 12 quarterfinals by Nam Phan, there’s no denying the resounding impact McKenzie had on the show, mainly thanks to his pair of McKenzietine wins over Amir Khillah and Marc Stevens and constant needling of Josh Koscheck. That’s what won him over in my eyes, at least.

Both fighters are arguably in a must-win situation, as both have dropped 3 of their past 5 contests. The cards are clearly more stacked against McKenzie, however, as his three octagon wins have all come over fighters who have since been released by the UFC — Aaron Wilkinson, Marcus Levesseur, and Garcia. “The AK Kid” was also recently dubbed “the worst fighter in the UFC” by Chael P. Sonnen, but he did provide the single greatest moment in The Ultimate Fighter history, so who the hell really knows what the future holds for this goofy, affable sonofabitch.

Official CP Prediction: Stout lights up McKenzie for a solid two rounds before running directly into the Alaskan’s signature McKenzietine. Upon waking up, Stout will retire from the sport in his post-fight interview, claiming that “He’s getting too old for this shit” and just wants a desk job. But in a shocking turn of events, Stout will immediately change his mind, snatch the mic from Joe Rogan’s hand, and inform the attending audience that he will be challenging the Michael Chandler/Eddie Alvarez winner for the Bellator lightweight title at an event TBD.

If you met Cody McKenzie in public without knowing who is, you’d probably assume he was just another stoned-out candle-hobbyist. It’s rare to see such a wide gap between a person’s chill-dude vibe and how dangerous they are in a cage-fight scenario. After picking up another win last Tuesday at UFC on FUEL 3, McKenzie gave an interview to MMA Inside the Cage‘s Casey Oxendine, where he ran down his McKenzietine victory against newcomer Marcus Levasseur, and argued for Nick Diaz as a legitimate third-party presidential candidate. To which we’d say: Come on, bro. Ron Paul got steam-rolled, and he actually showed up to his appearances.

After the jump: Casey and Cyrus present the latest episode of MMA Inside the Cage, featuring Ronda Rousey discussing her infamous Facebook-nuking of that dumb bastard, on-the-scene coverage from the World Jiu-Jitsu Expo, Tom Lawlor running down his disturbing lack of personal hygiene, and the usual batch of nasty regional MMA knockouts.